Dublin Central… that by-election

So, what to think of the future of Dublin Central now that the dust settles? Well, reading the Phoenix yesterday I was surprised by the following paragraph in an article that discussed the travails of the Green Party (or rather not, since this was obviously written before the latest poll results):

All of which underlines the dilemma facing [Green Party … Patricia] McKenna, who lost her European seat last time around and who is without a council or Dáil seat. The Green leadership would rather stand George Bush than McKenna in any election and if she does stand it will have to be as an Independent. Libertas would love her as their candidate but this right-wing party is anathema to McKenna. Far left radicals around Richard Boyd-Barrett and others would also like her to stand for Europe but a more intriguing prospect would be some link-up with the group around the late Tony Gregory.

Pardon?

I’ve never heard that one before.

It continues…

Cllr Maureen O’Sullivan is now intent on standing for this group in the by-election, whenever that happens, but an interesting notion is that O’Sullivan would stand in the local elections in her North Inner City area with McKenna standing in Cabra/Glasnevin in a loose alliance with Gregory’s people. But McKenna’s overall dilemma is that she does not know which election to stand in and for whom.

Notice a subtle shift there whereby McKenna’s ambitions are more tightly focussed on a council seat rather than Europe. That might be a more realistic assessment of her chances – and McKenna is not unaware of the fact that however detached from the Green Party her voice carries more weight within it than without. Sure, not quite a case of outside the party there is nothing. And by the by, McKenna managed to quell her thoughts on Libertas sufficiently long to dine with them in the aftermath of Lisbon.

But in any case there is already, despite some tension, an Independent candidate in the shape of Cieran Perry standing in Cabra/Glasnevin who not merely fishes in the same waters as ‘Gregory’s people’ but is in fact going to get support from some of those who would also actively support O’Sullivan. So the intrusion of McKenna, who let us note was always a political rival of Tony right up to the last election running against him (as well as all others in the constituency) makes the thesis suggested by the Phoenix somewhat difficult to accept – at least at this point in time. It’s more complex again insofar as I understand that no final decision has been taken on the shape of the future political direction of the Gregory group and a meeting in the very near future is going to thrash that matter out. The fact of that meeting makes a nonsense of the Phoenix’s confident assertion that all is already decided on these matters.

The issue of Joe Higgins standing in Dublin Central in the byelection was most likely always a non-starter. I know that this idea was mooted as early as the middle of last year but it was curious to see it publicised in the Independent last week…

FORMER Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins has decided against granting the dying wish of Tony Gregory by contesting the Dublin Central by-election.

…Mr Gregory asked Mr Higgins, who was the scourge of the last Dail with his one-liner quips, to replace him in this Dail as “the people’s representative” for Dublin’s north inner city.

But Mr Higgins is running in the Dublin constituency in the European elections this June.

And as the date of those elections will likely coincide with the by-election to fill Mr Gregory’s seat he said he had reluctantly decided to concentrate on Europe.

I dislike intensely the way in which this story is phrased, it’s hand-wringing and prurient. And for what it’s I don’t think that Joe was unreasonable in deciding the way he did. As has been discussed on this thread he is very much a party man and that party – whether one supports it or not – has a clear strategic approach. How he, the SP (or whatever resources they could afford to give to the contest) and the Gregory group would work together would be intriguing to see. And consequent to that how would this have worked on the ground? Would his personality gel with the electorate in the constituency or not? Remember, Tony struggled back a few times. There was, and is, no guarantee he’d make it. Granted, perhaps one can mount an argument that it would have done no particular harm to Higgins in raising his profile, but his assessment that concentrating on Europe was a better move is probably correct. And that’s not to take into account that however close they were there were fundamental differences too between them, something that I’ve noted previously, and to his absolute credit, Joe was unafraid to mention.

But I can’t help thinking that yet again we’re seeing the same old ‘celebrity’ approach to politics in Dublin Central being played out – at least in the media, an approach that Joe Higgins cleverly has eschewed. Yet again the idea that somehow it is possible in this particular constituency that it is sufficient to have a high public profile is being tested. I’m even less sure today of how the by-election will pan out but I’m willing to bet the seat will go to someone on the ground for a good while in the area. And that might be Labour, or it might be Sinn Féin (I’m beginning to think Fianna Fáil may be out of the running).

A last thought on this matter for now… Joe Higgins makes an excellent point when he notes that:

“Because it looks like we are going to have the by-election on the same day as the local and European elections, and because I have already agreed to stand for the Socialist Party in Dublin, I would be unable to run in Central.”

Mr Higgins also said: “I do feel that by-elections here should follow the British model, where they are routinely held within a month or two of becoming vacant. Instead Irish people are left without representation so that government parties can suit themselves.”

There is something entirely disgraceful about the way in which this process remains within the gift of the government. The cynicism, masked as pragmatism, of eliding these elections is only slightly offset by the knowledge that they will more than likely provide no benefit to the major government party. Here surely is another case for electoral reform.

Now… if only we knew someone in government… someone of the left, if not necessarily in the left… who is interested in reform… who might like to take up that particular issue and run with it…